After the end is a new beginning
by Ensimismada
Summary: Donna bumps into Martha after it all and the two discuss paths in life.


"Oi, watch where you're walking!" Donna Noble stumbled, just managing to catch her balance but dropping her shopping bag. Its contents scattered to the sidewalk which, thankfully, was not terribly busy this time of morning.

"Oh, sorry," the woman - young woman, really, despite the worry lines in her face - muttered, barely giving Donna a look as she slid against a shop wall. She grasped a small hand mirror rather tightly.

Donna bent to collect her newly purchased things, glaring up angrily when the woman on the wall did not move to help; she was instead studying the mirror intently.

"So now you're just going to stand there like a lump on the wall, inspecting your hair and checking your makeup?"

"What? Oh, sorry. Here, I'll give you a hand with your, uh... shopping," the woman finished a bit skeptically. That was quite a lot of hats.

"I," Donna huffed, snatching a hat from the girl's gloved hand, "happen to like hats. And I like shopping." She could see now that the young woman wore only the barest trace of makeup, because their faces were level and the stranger was staring at her, eyes wide.

"You..."

"Yea, me?"

The wide eyes blinked twice and the woman swallowed hastily before straightening. "Sorry, I thought I knew you from somewhere. So - hats?"

"Yes, hats. Plural," Donna snapped, looking the young woman over. She was pretty, despite the odd black leather jumpsuit. It suited her dark complexion though. The army boots on the other hand... "That too girly for your Rambo-ness?"

"Uh, no makeup and things for me, thanks. That's more my sister's field of expertise. And my mom's." Both sets of eyes turned inward for a moment at this, two faces mirroring identical small smiles.

"So... that's your life now, is it? You buy hats. Meet up with the girls, have a pint. Talk about clothing and makeup and men? Don't you ever feel like there's more out there?"

"Yea, that's how I choose to live, because I like it!" Donna snapped; she got this sort of talk at home, no need to get lip from a stranger who dressed like GI Jane and who talked like Donna's everyday life were something unfamiliar, something almost out of reach.

"Tell me, what's your job, right now?"

"I'm an office temp. It's decent money and it's not to say I'm not looking out for a permanent position, a secretary or something, but... Once a temp, always a temp."

The girl frowned deeply at this, eyes flashing darkly. "Well, what do you do, then?" Donna barked, put off.

"Me? I... work with aliens, actually. I save the world."

"Aliens? Ha! Why does everyone always go on about that rubbish?

"So you're one of those, eh?" the young woman's eyes went dark for another moment. "Well, right then. You, miss, Donna, was it? You go save the world your own way. Go on then!"

"But -" Donna was almost at a loss of words, for once. The figure in front of her was so confident, so self-assured. In the young woman's posture and calm, earnest facial expression Donna could read a fierce sense of independence, a deep inner strength, and amazing vitality.

"Look, here's what I think: maybe you're a secretary because you think that's what you are, think it's the only place you'll ever be as a lower middle-class worker with no specialized training. Well, that. is. wrong. You've got to find whatever it is holding you back because it's up to you to knock it down. You're strong and you're stubborn - you're beautiful and I'd bet everything that you can be brilliant." Donna felt small tears in the corners of her eyes, though she couldn't quite place why. Here was a girl barely out of her teens and dressed head to heels in black leather talking to her like she knew her, like they were companions.

The hand mirror let out a small roar. The mysterious woman muttered "got to go!", jumped up and dashed off, yelling over her shoulder: "Good luck, Donna Noble!"

Donna set down her bag of hats, just for a moment, to watch the enigmatic figure dashing down the street. She felt a growing sense of inner resolve, a spark of self-worth fanned by her innately stubborn, fiery nature. It was only much later that it occurred to Donna she'd never told the woman her name.


End file.
